


Sums

by falsemurmur



Category: Lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 12:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsemurmur/pseuds/falsemurmur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Sawyer wasn’t about wooing, and Juliet less. She wasn’t asking for his attention and she wasn’t waiting for him to do anything other than to keep the plan intact. </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sums

  
  
  
**Entry tags:**|   
[pairing: james/juliet](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/pairing:+james/juliet), [tv: lost](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/tv:+lost), [type: oneshot](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/type:+oneshot)  
  
---|---  
  
_**Sums**_  
**title: **Sums  
**fandom: **LOST  
**summary: **_Sawyer wasn’t about wooing, and Juliet less. She wasn’t asking for his attention and she wasn’t waiting for him to do anything other than to keep the plan intact. _  
**characters/pairings:** Sawyer, ~~Sawyer~~James/Juliet  
**genre(s): **General/Romance  
**rating: **PG  
**note: **I'm not sure on how this came out--writing LOST fic always leaves me uncertain. Inspired by the comment, _I think they needed to fill in a few more blanks in those missing years, to show us how Sawyer became this kind of person_, from [](http://katayla.livejournal.com/profile)[**katayla**](http://katayla.livejournal.com/)  (so if anything, this fic is her fault!). I actually had another kind of fic in mind, but this came out instead. Slight spoilers for 5x08. Enjoy.

~*~

Five times, the submarine came and went.

“I don’t know how you can stand her. Living under the same roof. Being all smiles with her when you’re around these guys.”

Sawyer never had to do much more than glare then look away for the guy to shut up anytime he complained about the smallest of things, or when he made comments like that. Less he responded to Miles, the faster he just shut it. He only wished there was a way he could make the guy ever stop talking to him permanently.

\--

Twelve times, the submarine came and went.

“Have you ever…held onto something, just for the sake of holding onto something?” she asked as she folded one of Jim LeFleur’s jumpsuits.

He licked his lips and set his beer bottle down on the dryer. “I’m human aren’t I?”

She looked over at him, at first nonchalantly, but at the first sign of his tight smile, she smiled lightly in turn. “I meant aside from a grudge.”

His jaw tightened and he breathed in. She always had to make it difficult. “I didn’t mention any grudge,” he muttered before walking out of the laundry room.

\--

Fifteen times, the submarine came and went.

“James, you should not have punched Miles. These people are barely starting to entrust us with responsibilities--you really think they’ll ever trust us completely if we go around fighting with those of our own crew? What could he have possibly said for you to have--”

“He had it coming, alright?” he grumbled and replaced her hand on the frozen pack of steak on his eye with his own hand, “he wouldn’t shut the hell up.”

She crossed her arms over his chest, raised an eyebrow, and calmly asked, “about?”

He eyed her, and after a hesitant pause, just said, “nothin’.”

\--

Sixteen times, the submarine came and went.

“Go to her,” Jin urged.

James looked away and slouched over his seat, poking at the fire he and Jin had made.

“What the hell for?” he said.

“You keep looking for her to be around,” Jin said slowly, “go find her.”

“Listen, you stick to your English and fishing lessons, and I’ll stick to not giving a damn if I ever see that Goddamn woman ever again.”

He heard Jin sigh, and he took it as a resignation.  The married man thought he knew a thing or two about two strangers who were pretending to be a couple and had the occasional disagreements, when he didn’t know a thing.

\--

Seventeen times, the submarine came and went.

“Two more centimeters, James--there, yes--no, James, the pla--”

“Listen woman, I ain’t your poor, green-loving, gardener. If you think I’m doing this all wrong, why don’t you do it,” he grumbled and gesticulated to the soil.

“Because, Sawyer, everyone here rotates at least once. You need to learn how to properly plant the seeds and--what?” 

“You’d think we were living in the ultimate civilization. Everyone rotates. Everyone partakes. Everyone contributes. Blah, blah. We’re still stuck on an isolated island.”

She smiled softly at him, then crawled closer to the fresh soil. “I’ll handle this, James.”

“Great,” he grinned. Quickly he got up, but he stood in place momentarily, and just looked down at her. Feeling his frozen presence, she tilted her head up and squinted her eyes in the glaring sun, trying to make out his expression.

In a quick swoop, he bent down and captured her lips.

“I owe you one,” he said when the kiss was done.

\--

Twenty-five times, the submarine came and went.

“I caught Miles sitting by the dock again this afternoon. We have to be careful: one of these days he may just get on board the submarine.”

“Make sure to tell him _adios_ for me when he does.”

“James.” She shifted her body weight to her left and placed her hands on her hips.

“Cool it. We both know he won’t be getting on anything.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that he has that desire. And he’s not the only one, James.” She looked away a brief second before looking back at him with a taut smile. “I’m going in for a shower,” she said and strolled away.

Her musings on leaving the island and forgetting it all used to make him chuckle and he used to be able to ignore them, or at least not dwell on them. Now they made his chest tighten.

\--

Twenty-eight times, the submarine came and went.

“I’d take her flowers. Get her, her favorite drink. Do something to make her smile. Anything to make her smile, because--you, you have to make the best of it, and the best of it is her. And she’s the one that matters. Just her and her smile.”

The scientist smiled, bared his teeth for a moment, before he remembered Charlotte’s last smile and her last second. He shut his mouth, looked up at James, and patted his shoulder. “Make her smile,” he advised solemnly.

But Sawyer wasn’t about wooing, and Juliet less. She wasn’t asking for his attention and she wasn’t waiting for him to do anything other than to keep the plan intact. He had kissed her once, repaid her eventually, and sure they shared a bed, but that was just life and its tasks.

\--

Twenty-nine times, the submarine came and went.

“How was work, James?” Juliet asked when she heard the front door open and close.

She dried the last dish with one final note from the song playing in the background. As she dried her own hands, she felt warm, callous hand, smoothing over the wrinkles of the shirt on her back. She blinked several times, until his hands came up to her neck, and her eyes closed.

“James,” she breathed, and he kissed the base of her neck. She turned around slowly and locked her eyes on his. “Wha--”

“I think it’s time we consummated this relationship,” he said with a teasing smile.

Juliet relaxed and chuckled softly. “Yes, well why don’t you go consummate it with someone else?” and she began stepping away.

“Ah, ah,” he pulled her back in front of him, “we’re not avoiding this anymore.”

He kissed her and when they came up for air, he glanced down at her lips to see a smile pass through them.

\--

Thirty times, the submarine came and went.

“What’d you have to do to get her?” Miles asked in a voice that insinuated that James had to go to extreme and irrational extremes.

“You just mind your own business,” Sawyer remarked.

“That much, huh?”

“Listen ghost whisperer,” Sawyer grabbed him by the collar, “I didn’t do a thing and neither did she. Whatever we might’ve done or not is nothing to you, anyway.”

He pushed him and Miles fell, while James walked away.

\--

Forty-nine times, the submarine came and went.

“James!” she laughed and fell flat against the bed.

“So you ain’t like the flowers?”

“No, the flowers are nice. They were just…surprising.”

“Well hey, if you don’t want anymore surprises, just lemme know.”

“No, no!” she yelled and sat up on the bed. “I was kidding,” she whispered and grabbed his hand, “it was only the card that made me laugh. I’m sorry James, but I know you didn’t like writing that card either. So let’s stick to the flowers, but not the little notes, okay?”

James shook his head at her, but smirked. Of course he had hated writing that note. It was Jin’s fault anyhow. “Alright.”

She didn’t ask for any flowers, and maybe she laughed, but she liked it, he knew that. And who knew the mad scientist would know a little something about normal human interaction--making her smile was what mattered.

\--

They lose count of the times the submarine comes and goes.


End file.
